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Arun Dutt demands Bharat Ratna for Guru Dutt

Legendry filmmaker Guru Dutt, who carved a niche for himself in the black and white era deserves a posthumous Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour, for his contribution to Indian cinema, his son Arun Dutt said Friday.

“His films are among the all-time great movies made in the world. He is recognised internationally. A nine-day festival of his films was organised in New York. The government has also issued stamp on him, so I personally feel government should think of giving him the Bharat Ratna,” Arun Dutt, who is in Bhopal to promote the Guru Dutt Film Academy, told.

“It is up to the government to decide on the issue,” he added.

Guru Dutt made quintessential 1950s and 1960s classics such as Pyaasa (Thirsty), Kaagaz Ke Phool (Paper Flowers), Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (The King, the Queen and the Jack) and Chaudhvin Ka Chand (The Fourteenth Day Moon). In particular, Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool are now included among the greatest films of all time, both by Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies and by the Sight & Sound critics' and directors' poll,where Dutt himself is included among the greatest film directors of all time. He is sometimes referred to as "India's Orson Welles". In 2010, he was included among CNN's "top 25 Asian actors of all time". Guru Dutt died in 1964 at the age of 39.

Asked if he wants to colourise his father’s classics, Arun Dutt said: “The beauty of ‘Pyaasa’ lies in it’s original form. The only possibility of colourising is ‘Chaudhvin Ka Chand’ but we have not thought of it yet.”

About the changes in the industry over the years, Arun Dutt said that technology has replaced most of the art work, adding: “If he (Guru Dutt) were alive today, he would have been disappointed with the way the Indian film industry is functioning.”